BETTING shops have been labelled a blight on Southall as Ealing Council attempts to tackle the spread of venues in the area.

The council is carrying out a consultation as it asks residents to share thoughts on how to deal with applications for gambling premises.

There are more than 90 betting shops across the borough. The biggest concentration is in Southall, which has 18, seven of which were built in recent years.

Southall councillor Ranjit Dheer, who is also cabinet member for community services and safety said: “Speaking to residents and businesses, I know that there is a lot of anxiety about the impact of betting shops on the community.

“People see these places as magnets for anti-social behaviour, contributing to wider issues like alcohol and drug abuse, as well as prostitution. Southall is an area with a lot of people who do not have much money and thus turn to gambling, which means these shops make life worse for them.”

Mr Dheer said he hopes residents feedback will help Ealing Council find more robust ways to deal with any future applications for betting shops.

Janpal Basran, manager of Southall Community Alliance, said: “I would welcome any review about the current licensing set-up. In Southall recently there's been a lot of concern about the number of new betting establishments.

“These places attract anti-social behaviour and you very often you see a lot of drunks and drug addicts hanging around outside.”

Chief Superintendent Andy Rowell, borough commander for Ealing, said: “From analysis of our crime and anti-social behaviour data, it became apparent that many of the bookmakers within the Southall area were drivers for crime.

“The crimes ranged from minor damage to serious assaults. In order to tackle this, we met with the regional managers for the main bookmakers and agreed to work with them to reduce crime and support their staff and protect them from abuse an assault.

“In support of this, we also launched, with Ealing council, a 'Bet Watch' scheme which states that anti-socially behaviour and criminal activity will not be tolerated in these premises, and if you are banned from one, you are banned from all.”

A spokesman for the betting chain Ladbrokes said: “We are always happy to work with councils to allay any fears or deal with localised issues. We have actually done this recently when we opened a shop in Southall, agreeing to stringent conditions on opening times, levels of staffing and CCTV.

“I would also point out that there is no evidence of causality between the presence of betting shops and anti-social behaviour or crime.”